The Brood War

The UED’s control over the new Overmind and the broods on Char gave the Directorate a decisive advantage over Kerrigan, for a weapon known as the psi disrupter prevented the Queen of Blades from controlling the zerg broods that were not yet under the Overmind’s control. Fortunately for Kerrigan, however, she had foreseen this difficulty and had acted accordingly.

Kerrigan had contacted Jim Raynor from her fortress on the planet Tarsonis. Raynor cared for her before she joined the Swarm, and she knew that on some level he still had feelings for her, even though he distrusted her. Contacting him had therefore involved minimal risk to Kerrigan, and Raynor had made the perfect ambassador between her and the protoss on Shakuras, who had not forgotten Kerrigan’s past manipulations. Once Raynor and the protoss had been willing to listen, she had asked them to rescue Emperor Mengsk and the battle-scarred remnants of the Dominion fleet from the UED’s assault. Galvanized by the threat of an emergent Overmind in the hands of the UED, Raynor had temporarily put aside his hatred of Mengsk and agreed to Kerrigan’s plan.

Once Raynor had rescued Mengsk, Kerrigan assured the emperor that she had no intention of killing him, for she was no longer angry at his betrayal. Victory over the UED, she maintained, was more important than petty grudges.

Kerrigan explained that she wanted to use Mengsk’s psi emitters to reclaim control of additional zerg forces. She would then be able to tear down the psi disrupter, at which point she would finally stand a chance of beating the Directorate fleet. In return, she offered to help Mengsk reclaim the planet Korhal from the UED. Mengsk was free to refuse her offer, of course, but if he did, she would imprison him for the rest of his life.

Mengsk could see no other alternative, and he was enticed by the prospect of reclaiming Korhal, so he loaned Kerrigan the psi emitters. Kerrigan’s plan worked perfectly, and she destroyed the psi disrupter on Braxis.

Once Kerrigan had gained control over a greater number of zerg and built up sufficient resources, she and her reluctant allies launched an assault on Korhal. The UED forces occupying the planet were overwhelmed, and Mengsk was jubilant as he retook possession of the planet. Declaring himself the emperor of the Terran Dominion once again, he set up a base of operations in Augustgrad.

Broken Alliance

Kerrigan, having rebuilt her zerg forces and driven the UED from its primary seat of power in the Koprulu sector, decided that her allies had outlived their usefulness. Duran pointed out that if she struck now, her erstwhile allies would not be expecting an attack.

Without warning Kerrigan sent multitudes of her minions against the terran encampments. Mengsk denounced Kerrigan for her treachery. She responded that her actions were well-justified revenge, given the suffering she had undergone due to Mengsk’s betrayal on Tarsonis. As for Mengsk, she would permit him to live: she wanted him to watch her ascend to ultimate power and know that he had helped shape her into the deadly Queen of Blades.

Raynor fought courageously, but he knew a hopeless fight when he saw one. As he escaped from Korhal, he promised Kerrigan that she would pay for the lives she had taken: one day, Raynor swore, he would kill her.[1]

Freeing Raszagal

Kerrigan remained determined to crush the UED forces and their enslaved Overmind. To that end, she traveled to the planet Shakuras and kidnapped the dark templar matriarch, Raszagal.

Using Raszagal as leverage, Kerrigan laid out her demands. Because only Zeratul and his people could destroy the Overmind and its cerebrates, Kerrigan made them an offer: if the dark templar killed these renegade zerg, Kerrigan would permit Raszagal to return to Shakuras.

Despite Zeratul’s reservations, Raszagal convinced him that, for the sake of all protoss, he must do as Kerrigan demanded. In the end, Zeratul obeyed. The dark templar assaulted the UED forces on Char and managed to slay the Overmind along with its cerebrates. As a result, all zerg in the Koprulu sector became subject to Kerrigan’s will once more.

When the mission was completed, Kerrigan asked Raszagal if she wanted to return to her people, but the matriarch said that her only wish was to serve Kerrigan. In that moment, Zeratul realized that Kerrigan had long ago enslaved and corrupted Raszagal’s mind.

After their defeat, the remains of the Directorate fleet had fled from the planet Char. Zeratul and the other dark templar circumvented Kerrigan’s defenses and rescued their matriarch. They had yet to realize that Raszagal’s mental enslavement could not be undone.

Before the dark templar could escape with Raszagal, the zerg surrounded Zeratul’s base and attacked. As Kerrigan and her minions closed in, Zeratul cursed Kerrigan bitterly and, rather than let the zerg recapture Raszagal, dealt the matriarch a mortal blow. In her last moments, she thanked him for freeing her from Kerrigan’s influence.

Ravaged by grief and guilt, Zeratul vowed he would avenge the matriarch’s fall.

A Far Greater Power

Upon leaving Char, Zeratul and the dark templar investigated protoss power signatures on an uncharted moon nearby. There they found several stasis cells containing protoss and zerg. Further investigation revealed that Samir Duran was using genetic manipulation in an unholy attempt to create the hybrid: creatures with mixed zerg and protoss DNA.

Most disturbing of all, however, was the fact that Duran’s attempts were proving successful.

Unmoved by Zeratul’s disgust, Duran revealed that he served a power far greater than Kerrigan and that the creation of the hybrid was the last step in a vast cycle that was approaching its end. Duran claimed that the hybrid, who were scattered on a thousand different worlds, were on the verge of completing their development, and they would change the universe forever when they awoke.

Kerrigan’s Ascension

For a brief time thereafter, Kerrigan was sorely challenged. Duran had inconveniently disappeared; the orbital platform from which she watched over Char was under attack; and most of her forces were still on the planet surface. Arcturus Mengsk had scraped together a new fleet, and a gleaming armada of protoss ships from Shakuras had warped in as well. Last but not least, Directorate forces were stubbornly intent upon defeating the woman who had manipulated and humiliated them.

Yet the Queen of Blades proved to be too powerful a foe as she unleashed her full wrath upon her enemies. Facing imminent defeat, Mengsk withdrew early in the battle. He told Kerrigan to watch her back because he would be lying in wait for her, ready to strike when she inevitably made a mistake.Nor did the forces composed of Aiur protoss and dark templar retreat without a parting word, declaring that they would never forget the death of Raszagal. They too would be watching Kerrigan.

At last it became clear that the UED fleet could not hope to overcome Kerrigan at her full strength. For her amusement, Kerrigan allowed the fleet to flee in the direction of Earth, giving it a reasonable head start before she sent the Swarm after them.

Kerrigan’s forces soon overtook the UED fleet and tore it apart. Not one of the fleet’s ships would reach Earth to report the events that had taken place in the Korulu sector.[2]

The Queen of Blades has not grown complacent in the wake of her victory. She continues to keep watch over the Swarm from Char. The Brood War showed her to be more powerful than anyone could have imagined: she is truly the dominant force in the Koprulu sector. However, for the last four years the Swarm’s initial, merciless expansion has been replaced with a foreboding silence.

There is only speculation about what Kerrigan has been doing for the last four years, as no scouting expeditions to zerg-occupied planets have lived to report what they witnessed. Many believe that the zerg are building their strength and engineering new organisms before going on the offensive again. Some contend that Kerrigan is staying her hand due to some lingering shred of humanity, but those who have encountered the savage fury of the Queen of Blades suspect that this is merely wishful thinking.

The Aiur protoss have been struggling to recover from the loss of their homeworld, while attempting to reunify their society with the dark templar living on Shakuras. It has been a difficult transition for both sides, and the name of Raszagal has been invoked more than once to keep the peace. Interacting with the dark templar and the xel’naga technology on Shakuras has also led to many new developments as the protoss prepare themselves for continuing the war with the zerg.

Memories of Raszagal have plagued Zeratul, and he was deeply disturbed by his encounter with Samir Duran. For years he kept to himself, racked with guilt and sorrow, until a valiant terran archaeologist in need of Zeratul’s aid sought him out and convinced him to emerge from his self-imposed exile. Since then, Zeratul has uncovered a revelation somehow related to the xel’naga, creators of both the zerg and the protoss. He has been seeking additional clues to unravel the mystery.

Arcturus Mengsk and his forces initially returned to Korhal to regroup. His first order of business was to rebuild the Terran Dominion. In Kerrigan he has found a new target for revenge. The Dominion has risen once again to become the most powerful force among the terran factions, having taken over almost all of the original Confederate worlds.

The UED expeditionary fleet was shattered during the Brood War and now only a few isolated pockets of survivors remain hidden in the Koprulu sector.Jim Raynor has led a resistance movement known as Raynor’s Raiders against the spreading power of the Dominion, but over the years it has been a losing battle. Arcturus Mengsk has used his greatest weapons – the media and propaganda – to marginalize Raynor’s efforts. Now Raynor seems to be losing faith, drinking heavily and haunted by the ghosts of his past.

Those who know Jim Raynor best have been saying that there is one part of him that won’t rest until Sarah Kerrigan is dead…